First Day and First Impressions

The ride from the airport taught me two things: 1) never EVER drive in India unless you have  death wish and 2) this is not a ‘third tier city’-- this is a village. The roads were lined with either empty fields awaiting the monsoons or small shanty areas that were filled with people and street-side vendors. It is possible that I saw more goats than people, and the car had to pause and let shepherds cross with their cows and goats. There is clearly no municipal trash collecting, as there was trash everywhere! But, the towns are brightly panted and alive, which makes them beautiful in a different way. Every small town along the way was home to at least one Hindu temple. These were the most colorful buildings with steeples that towered over the huts. None of the farmers had sewn their crops as the monsoon rains had not yet broken. To me, it looked like India was always building something-- the landscape was dotted with rubble and scaffolding along with cleared and tilled soil. But, I am told, when the rains come an day now, the landscape will be transformed!

My home is located in a gated community that seems to be a mix of a vacation resort and a college campus. The front entryway is lines with exotic flowers and every square inch of ground has some kind of garden. There is a clubhouse with a gym, but the times for exercise are different for men and women. On one side of the offices, there are rows of three-story apartment buildings and after that, small one family houses. Security guards are posted at each side of the community with one walking the fence during all hours, even at night.

My room is the perfect size; there are three windows and already I have a gecko on my wall! Apparently they will not leave a wall once they claim it, but they will fight any other gecko that tries to get on the wall with them. I’m hoping to see this in action! My favorite thing so far is the food, and I think it’s only going to get better! My first meal, interestingly, was danishes! They were cooked apple pastries like the ones found in American coffee shops. Next, though, we ate blackened okra and a sauce of garbonzo beans and other pepper-- with our hands. Each person serves themselves with their left hand a round of Indian unleavened bread, then with only the right hand, they tear off chunks and scoop up the meal. To finish, each person gets rice, then dumps the remaining food on top, mixes it and scoops in in their mouths-- with their fingers, of course. I am having way too much fun eating here!

Though my work hours are between 9 and 5:30, the day is peppered with breaks every hour and a half. At these breaks, the employees congregate in the hallway and outside where they can serve themselves hot tea, or a snack from the canteen. Since I live in the colony, lunch is served at home by the housekeeper.

As for my work, I am a little nervous. Not only did most people in the lab assume I was a graduate student, I am also lacking the biology eduction that I need for my work. I spent my whole first day studying because I was so unprepared! I am grateful though, because next year in biology class I will be leaps and bounds ahead. As for my project, I will be determining whether the 30-40 varieties of rice at Mayhco have the ‘xa’ gene- or the gene that makes rice resistant to a certain type of blight. To do this, I will first need to extract DNA, then target the marker that we want to isolate, use PCR and primers to amplify this piece, then analyze the final product for the existence of the gene. I am incredibly nervous about my lack of understanding. Why did the World Food Prize send me here without any of the knowledge that I needed? Regardless, I will learn loads of information, and I am still grateful for the challenge.

Critters

So I have come to realize that critters are pretty much everywhere here-- including my room. This morning I found two new buddies: a gecko and a spider. The funny thing is that I have no idea which one I should be more worried about. Since the lizard is apparently territorial, maybe it will get into a knock-down-drag-out with the spider. More on this as it happens...